Access to safe water and sanitation

In the year 2000, 62 per cent of Africans had
access to improved water supplies and 60 per cent to sanitation
- but coverage was poor in large areas of the continent

Source: WHO and UNICEF 2000

Some 62 per cent of Africans had access to an improved
water supply in 2000. Even so, rural Africans spend much time searching
for water and 28 per cent of the global population without access to improved
water supplies live in Africa. Women are particularly affected as they
are often responsible for the family's water needs. Urban areas are better
supplied, with 85 per cent of the population having access to improved
water supplies. In rural areas, the average is 47 per cent, with 99 per
cent of the rural population in Eritrea having no sanitation coverage.
The total African population with access to improved sanitation was 60
per cent in 2000. Again, urban populations fared better, with an average
84 per cent having improved sanitation compared to an average 45 per cent
in rural areas (WHO and UNICEF 2000).

Poor water supply and sanitation lead to high rates of water-related
diseases such as ascariasis, cholera, diarrhoea, dracunculiasis, dysentery,
eye infections, hookworm, scabies, schistosomiasis and trachoma. About
3 million people in Africa die annually as a result of water-related diseases
(Lake and Souré 1997). In 1998, 72 per cent of all reported cholera cases
in the world were in Africa.

Poor water supply and sanitation lead to contamination of surface and
groundwater, with subsequent effects on plant, animal and human communities.
The economic costs can be high. In Malawi, for example, the total cost
associated with water degradation was estimated at US$2.1 million in 1994
(DREA Malawi 1994). These costs included the need for water treatment,
the development of human resources and reduced labour productivity. Meeting
basic water and sanitation needs is also expensive. In Nigeria, a recent
study estimates the future cost of water supply and environmental sanitation
to be US$9.12 billion during 2001-10 (Adedipe, Braid and Iliyas 2000).

Governments are trying to improve the situation with environmental management
policies that include waste management and urban planning, and by making
environmental impact assessments compulsory for large projects. One of
the major regional policy initiatives was the 1980 Lagos Plan of Action,
which urged member states to formulate master plans in the sectors of
water supply and agriculture (OAU 1980). The Plan was influenced by the
1977 United Nations Water Conference's Mar del Plata Action Plan and the
1978 African regional meeting on water-related issues. Despite these initiatives,
a lack of human and financial resources, and equipment for implementation
and enforcement, still limit progress.

Sludge disposal in Cairo

A study launched in Cairo in 1995 has shown that wastewater treatment
can address not only the Egyptian city's water pollution problems
but also open new opportunities for business and agriculture. The
Greater Cairo Wastewater Project will produce about 0.4 million
tonnes of sludge or biosolids annually from wastewater treatment.

The study was initiated under the Mediterranean Environmental Technical
Assistance Programme funded by the European Investment Bank and
promoted by the Cairo Wastewater Organization. Initial results show
that sludge can be effective in growing wheat, berseem clover, forage
maize and grape vines. Digested sludge offers significant nitrogen
fertilizer replacement value to farmers; no harmful effects of biosolids
on crops were detected in field trials; and the benefits of spreading
biosolids on newly reclaimed soils are expected to increase with
cumulative applications. Farmers in Egypt are prepared to pay for
bio-solids due to the scarcity of manure and the high costs of inorganic
fertilizers.